A Sudden Proposal and the Trembling Goosebumps
I was the first to regain my composure amid the shocked faces of those who had never expected to hear such words. Even though we were indoors, a breeze tickled my cheek and made me flinch. After quickly checking on the adults who stood frozen with their mouths agape, I turned to Arlan.
“What you just said… did you cause some kind of accident at the academy?”
“An accident?”
I had tried to phrase it delicately out of consideration, but when he asked again without understanding, I corrected myself to make it clearer.
“I mean, a situation where you’d have no choice but to take responsibility through marriage…”
“René! What on earth are you saying right now!”
Only then did he grasp my meaning. He shook his head with a flustered expression. Meanwhile, our parents’ eyes widened at my words, so Arlan waved his hands frantically, insisting it wasn’t like that at all and looking utterly wronged.
“Ahem. Let’s discuss that story in a quieter place.”
Before our parents could say anything, Grandmother cleared her throat and suggested we move. “Sensitive topics like marriage are better discussed with as few ears listening as possible, don’t you think?”
When Grandmother smiled and scanned the room, the servants who met her gaze jumped in surprise and quickly made themselves scarce. Seeing that, our parents let out small sighs and followed her lead, moving to the most soundproof room in the mansion.
“Arlan. Answer with nothing but the truth, without a single lie.”
“Yes, tell us exactly what happened. Leave nothing out, dear.”
“…Yes, Father. Uncle.”
Swallowing hard at the serious expressions on Father and Uncle’s faces, he began by explaining where and how he had met the woman who hoped to marry him.
“…We happened to meet while taking a walk at a party hosted by the Count. We talked, and then we met again at the academy and grew close.”
Listening quietly, Grandmother offered a gentle smile upon learning that he had reunited at the academy with the young lady he’d had a good atmosphere with at the same party where René and I had met Alraune. Their relationship had developed into romantic feelings.
In the continuation of his story, Mother sighed and pressed a hand to her forehead when she heard that his repeating a year last year had been due to harassment from nasty central nobles who gathered to bully him because the young lady’s family was only a barony.
“While the two of you were studying together in the library, you first…”
“There’s no need to go into that much detail.”
Uncle cut Arlan off as he tried to recount how he had confessed, when they first held hands, and where their first kiss had taken place. Finding the story longer than expected, Uncle asked why he was in such a hurry to get married.
When the question came and everyone’s eyes turned to him, Arlan blinked hesitantly before answering with a face that showed he had made up his mind.
“I realized I could never live without her from now on.”
The moment I heard it, goosebumps prickled across my skin. Both Aran and I shuddered. While René tilted her head at our reaction, our parents exchanged glances. Seeing Arlan’s face—which clearly showed he was ready to do anything if necessary—they opened their mouths with expressions of resignation.
“Does the young lady feel the same way?”
“Yes, Mother.”
“In that case… I’ll propose a marriage discussion to her family.”
Father said that since there was nothing particularly problematic and both parties felt the same, as parents they had no choice but to help. Hearing that, Arlan let out a quiet breath of relief mixed with various other emotions.
“However, you didn’t properly explain the reason for your repeated year last year.”
After somehow resolving the marriage-related matter and in the midst of the relieved atmosphere, Mother scolded Arlan for not telling the truth about his repeated year. On top of that, she subtly pointed out that he had only sent a single letter the entire time he was at the academy. All he could do was repeatedly say he was sorry and keep bowing his head.
“Anna. That’s enough. Let’s have dinner.”
At the right moment, Grandmother stepped in to mediate. The situation wrapped up, and everyone had a later-than-usual dinner before hastily ending a day filled with all sorts of events.
Three days after our eldest son—who we thought still had a long way to go before becoming a proper adult—suddenly shocked us with his words.
Unlike the quiet territory, the streets were overflowing with energy every day. With the academy graduation ceremony right around the corner, the Marquis of Lorelei was watching the bustling scene through the window when a knock sounded at the door. Thinking that the expected guest had arrived, he called out that it was fine to enter.
“…Come in. Baron Shelton.”
“It is an honor to meet you like this, Marquis Lorelei.”
The father of the young lady whom his eldest son, Arlan, had said he could never live without. He had only caught a glimpse of this kind-faced Baron Shelton a few years ago at a party where all the eastern nobles had gathered. The Marquis offered him a similarly kind smile and gestured for him to sit.
“Thank you for accepting such a sudden invitation.”
“Not at all. It is I who should…”
Before the Baron could finish his awkward laugh, the Marquis of Lorelei—who was seated not at the head but directly across from him—slowly brought up the story he had heard a few days earlier, directing it at the Baron’s round-eyed, astonished face.
Of course, no father would welcome the news that his beloved daughter was in a relationship with some boy. The Marquis had spent the previous night organizing his thoughts for this very moment. He had even imagined how he would feel if he heard that his precious René and René were dating someone, and after directly experiencing the surge of emotion, he carefully conveyed to the Baron that Arlan and the young lady were even thinking about marriage.
“I-Irina is dating… and even thinking about marriage?”
Even though he had tried to be considerate, Baron Shelton was shocked to learn that his daughter was not only dating but already considering marriage. The Marquis of Lorelei quietly waited for him to calm down, understanding the feelings of a father with a daughter.
The Baron showed just how surprised he was by rubbing his dry face and letting out sighs. Then he turned trembling eyes toward the Marquis.
“They say they can’t live without each other, that they like one another so much they want to be together. What do you think?”
The Marquis, who had been the first to suggest the marriage talks, continued with a troubled expression when the Baron hesitated. “If she already has a fiancé, or if you had another match in mind…”
“Ah, no, not at all. There’s nothing like that.”
The Baron waved his hands in alarm at the suggestion. When the Marquis’s eyes asked what the problem was then, the Baron looked reluctant before revealing that the difference in family status was simply too great.
A young lady from a barony marrying the eldest son of a marquis family? It was too much to handle. At those words, the Marquis of Lorelei chuckled and said there was no need to worry about that.
“There’s no need to concern yourself with that part.”
He explained that his own mother, who had left on a long journey from which she would never return on the same day as his father, had grown up in an orphanage in the territory and worked as a servant in the mansion. The Lorelei family did not scrutinize relatives or act snobbishly like the central nobles. Even so, when the Baron still looked troubled, the Marquis added that they should set such things aside for the children’s sake.
“Hoo… I understand.”
In the end, Baron Shelton wore the face of a father who had set everything aside for his child and accepted the situation. The Marquis firmly stated that since Arlan had been the one to bring up the marriage first, the Lorelei family would cover all the costs involved in the preparations. The Baron smiled bitterly at the thorough consideration and bowed his head. They then exchanged opinions on how to proceed with the upcoming matters.
During the past few days while René and I had been lazing around in our room eating snacks, all sorts of things had apparently been happening.
The day before the academy graduation ceremony, Arlan brought his girlfriend—no, the woman he hoped to marry—to the family estate.
“M-my name is Irina Shelton. It is an honor to meet you all.”
The young lady had grown even more beautiful than when we had seen her from afar years ago. While I was thinking that she seemed more capable than she looked, Father and Mother smiled gently at the clearly nervous girl and showed her consideration.
“Today’s meeting was arranged simply because we wanted to hear the answer directly from the young lady’s own mouth, so please don’t feel too burdened.”
“If there’s anything uncomfortable, feel free to say so.”
“Thank you for your consideration.”
The young lady, whose face had relaxed a little, observed proper etiquette. Before getting to the main topic, they chatted about various things. Then, just as Arlan had done a few days earlier, she spoke with a serious expression, saying that she too wished to marry.
“If I can’t be with Arlan, I don’t think I could live long.”
Her eyes even grew misty as if it were true. Aran and I, who had been munching on snacks, shuddered in exactly the same way we had a few days before.
“Why are you and big brother like that?”
“René. You’re still too young to understand.”
“That’s right. You’ll understand when you grow up a bit more.”
Seeing us shake our heads in unison, claiming that a child wouldn’t know, René suddenly grabbed my collar and pointed out, “You’re the same age as me!”
Then, as we made up a suitable excuse to leave so that the four of them—our parents, Arlan, and the young lady—could continue their conversation, René suddenly turned to Aran.
“You ate a lot of snacks earlier, so hold back.”
“Hey, what kind of person do you think I am?”
“I see you as a snack-loving little kid.”
At Aran’s teasing words, René puffed out her cheeks in protest. Then she said she had something she was curious about. Smiling as if to say she could ask anything, Aran was asked by René whether he had a woman he was thinking of marrying, just like Arlan.
“…No.”
“Then a girl you were dating?”
“…There isn’t one.”
At the following questions, he slowly narrowed his eyes. Then he closed his mouth, smiled, and when René patted his arm, he scrunched up his face. After that, he declared that the academy was a place for studying and that he was a model student who followed that principle. He pinched her cheeks in revenge and even pinched mine since I had been quietly watching.
“Ow! Why me?!”
“Because your face looks exactly like hers, so suffer the same way!”
When I protested that it was unfair, Aran tyrannically insisted that since we were twins, we should suffer together. In return for that tyranny, I kicked him in the shin with all my might and snapped that it was because of that temper of his that he had no connection with women.
“Ugh…”
His face looked even more pained by those words than by the kick to his shin. Soon he reached out as if he wouldn’t let it end like this. We sisters quickly fled to our room.